Why Process Matters to Your Travel Business

Are you running your travel business, or is it running you? The benefit of a good process is that it reduces the reliance on you to add value. Whether you are a solopreneur or running a large agency with a team, a well-documented process provides consistency.

• Consistency builds customer trust because they know what to expect when buying from you.
• You are easy to buy from and easy to refer to their friends.
• Consistency saves you time because you find better and easier ways to get things done.

There are three stages to creating customers: attract, service, and retain.

Here are a few tips for improving the effectiveness of your customer creation process.

1. Customer Attraction: Be indispensable, one customer at a time.
The goal of creating customers is not to be all things to all people but to become , one customer at a time.

Creating a steady flow of ideal customers who share similar travel passions, interests, and needs reduces the randomness and creates a customer-centric approach to your business.

You will need to figure out who your ideal customer is. Often, that person on your list would go anywhere and do anything you suggest. If unsure or just starting, you can create an imaginary avatar based on your aspirational travel lifestyle. Pay attention to which products light you up and why. It is the sparkle within you that sells.  

“The first sale is to yourself.” Pete Cook

Once you know what you love to sell and who you love to sell to, the magic of attraction begins! It is never one thing; it combines social media, newsletters, networking, and getting the word out!

“Visibility creates opportunity”. Koka Sexton

You will know you are “visible” when people say, “I see you everywhere!”

2. Customer Service: A step-by-step approach to delivering your sales promise.
The key to the process is to identify the core steps you take to deliver on your promises to the customer. Once you get it out of your head and into a process, you immediately find ways to improve it.

“First you get it known, then right, then faster”. 

The mistake most advisors make is reinventing the wheel with every transaction. The other day, I spoke to a top-producing Advisor who sells over $2 million. We created a checklist for the last client meeting before they travel. She said: 

In his book Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (which I highly recommend), he says, “” 

Here are some tips for designing a service checklist: 

• Do what customers need and eliminate what does not add value.
• Improve your workflow by doing the most time-efficient things, such as batching, automating, and replicating steps. 
• Make it simple! The first, last, and two steps in between are sufficient for most checklists.
• Make it known! Sharing your checklists helps others support you and follow your lead.

3. Customer Advocacy: Create an experience they will remember long after the vacation.
They will cherish their travel memories. Will they remember you?  Walt Disney stated it best:

Standing out in a crowd means being brilliant at the basics. Before you start thinking about delivering freshly baked scones as a welcome home gift or making reservations at a restaurant on their first night (both cool ideas), make sure you have your client’s basic needs met. 

Being brilliant can be as simple as: 

• Being on time or early in getting back to people 
• Asking better questions upfront so that you have everything you need to curate something incredible 
• Set the “next call dates” in your calendar so that you are leading the customer journey. You always own the next call, period. 

Making your process visible, repeatable, and subject to continuous improvement can make life easier, make customers happier, and increase revenue.